Connecticut taps Deepwater Wind for 200 MW of offshore wind

A picture from Cathie Associates visit to the US’ first commercial offshore wind farm; Block Island.

June 14 (Renewables Now) - Regulators in Connecticut have selected a proposal by Deepwater Wind to supply 200 MW of offshore wind power to the state, it was announced on Wednesday.

Deepwater Wind took part in a Request for Proposals (RfP) for renewable energy projects, offering to provide 200 MW of offshore wind to Connecticut from its Revolution Wind project in the Atlantic Ocean, which was last month also picked in a clean energy solicitation in Rhode Island. The competitive round in Connecticut also attracted bids from Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) and Eversource Energy (NYSE:ES) and a joint venture between Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid Renewables LLC.

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) said in a press release that 824,830 MWh of power will be sourced from the Revolution Wind complex between Montauk, New York, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, which could be later paired with FirstLight Power’s 1,168-MW Northfield Mountain pumped-storage facility to allow it to act like a baseload resource. Construction works on the project could start in 2022, with completion targeted in 2023, Deepwater Wind said previously.

As part of the clean energy RfP, seeking offshore wind, biogas and fuel cell plants with a targeted output of up to 899,250 MWh per year, Connecticut selected six projects totalling more than 250 MW. Apart from Deepwater Wind’s proposal, winning bids include 52 MW of fuel cell projects, which will supply 450,011 MWh, and a 1.6-MW anaerobic digestion scheme for 10,519 MWh.

The developers of the selected projects will now hold talks with power utilities Eversource and United Illuminating to negotiate 20-year off-take deals, DEEP said.

The agency also announced plans for an additional clean energy solicitation, scheduled for this summer through the autumn.

Veselina Petrova is one of SeeNews Renewables most experienced green energy writers. For several years she has been keeping track of game-changing events both large and small projects and across the globe.